Leaders On The Trail

Asia’s trail running scene has exploded in the last few years. We talk to racers and organisers about some of its most notable events.

- Steve White

AS THE HEAT OF SUMMER FADES INTO autumn, its time for runners in the typhoon belt of Asia to shape up for a new season of trail races.

Elsewhere in Asia, the events never stopped, such is the level of interest in the sport today. Fuelled by the incredible variety of terrain and conditions on offer, and with an eye on marque events on the world stage such as Ultra-Trail Mt Blanc (UTMB) and the Western States, Asia’s trail running scene has never been stronger.

Ryan Blair, Champion System Adventure Team Director and an accomplished racer himself, says he feels very lucky to have witnessed this soaring interest in the sport in Asia: “The Ultra-Trail scene and race opportunities have just exploded in Hong Kong, Thailand, Mainland China, Malaysia, Philippines and really all over the region,” he says. “I am working and exploring a lot in Burma recently and even there some things are starting to happen.”

Another factor in the growth regionally has been the advent, in the summer of 2014, of the regional Asia Trail Master (ATM) series, www.asiatrailmaster.com. This has sharpened the focus for the increasing number of trail runners who like to take their sport on the road – to race hard, make friends from all over and maybe do some sightseeing on the back of it.

It’s also completing the circle, drawing so-called ‘destination’ racers from outside the region. Kris Van Der Velde founded the ATM: “As the quality of the events has increased tremendously in the last two, three years, we receive increasingly more requests from Europeans and Australians mainly, to run in the events we are promoting. In autumn, a Spanish TV production crew will be coming and filming at six ATM races, reflecting the interest in Asian trails on the old continent.”

City of lights – and tights